"Jenna's a vampire now..." A gasp escaped me as it all cleared out. Then to my horror, I realized how much things are going to change with Jenna as a vampire. If she was my worst enemy while she was a human, now, she'll be my worst nightmare. My thoughts were interrupted when I felt a gentle grip of my trembling hands. Feeling Dimitri's touch made me relax a little as I released a breath I didn't know I was holding, but the thought of Jenna wasn't leaving my head.

"Look at me," Dimitri commanded quietly as I felt his hand slowly caressing my chin so I'd look at him. I lifted my gaze, just to meet those beautiful emerald eyes that for some reason always held hope. The kind of green that pushed its way through the piles of gritty snow to remind you that spring was coming. That churning, passionate green that the ocean turns during a storm. That color of the forest after it rains. And looking into those eyes, I could see it. I could see the hope and life no matter what had happened.

I squeezed his hand and offered a weak smile, but I know I failed miserably. "Amelia, it's just a possibility. It doesn't have to be true." He said softly, making circular moved with his thumb on my hand and sending that electrical sensation that was leaving me a mark for the next few hours. He sighed. "I mean, it's weird, you know? Why would she help Dylan?" He almost said it to himself, focusing on the side.

Confusion washed over me. "You think she helped Dylan?" I had the same thought before, but after hearing she was turned, after almost completing the puzzle, I almost forgot about that thought. But there was a huge part of me hoping that it wouldn't be true.

"Both of the runways were at the same hour. It can't be coincidence. One helped another." Dimitri's voice was raspy, like he didn't get enough sleep. We both spent last night sleepless, unable to drawn even into a dreamless sleep.

"Or... Someone else helped them." I blabbed out, having no idea where that came from. For some reason, all I could think about was Adam. Him being involved in this whole situation.

"It was the middle of the night. The whole palace was asleep." He returned, sounding hopeless. Like he was starting to give up at some level.

"It could've been an outsider." I suggested quietly as I still wasn't aware of my own voice. It was so husky, almost unrecognizable. I was just thinking out loud, but at the same time, I was trying to get to the point. To finally tell Dimitri about Adam.

He frowned slightly, looking like he almost got it, but still needed a hint. "What do you mean?"

I looked down at my hands, then back up at him. "On that meeting, when I accompanied you... How many of those people have access to the castle?" I asked, watching him frown as he was thinking.

"We're working on an important project. Most of them are staying in the city, but there are some of them that have a room here. Just the ones we trust. Why?" He said, but the whole time there was some kind of a doubt in his voice. Some kind of a concern, like he was already worried, even though I haven't got to the worrying part yet.

I listened to him carefully, absorbing all the information. I was right... Was all I could think of. I was right that Adam was near, because I knew that no matter how weird it sounded, I could feel when he was close. When he was around me. And I've had that feeling every time I was alone. I sighed, trying to put my thoughts together. "Because," I mumbled quietly, not knowing how to start. I never told anyone about my Masters before. The whole thing simply wouldn't make sense to any living human being, so I always kept it for myself. I took in a deep breath, feeling like I was losing my strength to move on."The reason I acted so weird was cause... Adam Roth was there, Dimitri."

It took him a few seconds to show reaction as I watched as his expression turning from shocked, to surprised, then back to shocked. "How... how do you know Adam Roth?" His voice was now clear and serious, sending goosebumps all over my body.

I gulped before starting. "He was my first Master." Dimitri looked on the side, releasing a breath making his backs that were partly falling over his forehead wave. Right now, I couldn't read him. He was showing confused emotions. Correction: he almost wasn't showing any emotions, so it was hard to understand what he felt right now.

"Son of a bitch," Suddenly his expression turned into fury as he quickly stood up from the chair. I watched him intently, unable to understand why he got so mad all of a sudden. He ran his hands trough his hair and down his face. "That's why he asked about you," He mumbled, mostly to himself, but I heard his angry voice very clearly. My heart suddenly skipped a beat as horror suddenly flooded my whole body. It felt like my heart stopped pumping blood for a minute there.

My breaths started fastening up as I tried my best to block the darkness that started threatening from the corners of my eyes. I stood up, steadying myself by still holding the headboard of the chair. "He saw me?"

His expression was turning into worried as he took a few steps towards me. "Yes. He asked me how long you were here, but he didn't mention anything about knowing you." The only thing I could hear was Dimitri's voice echoing trough my head and my blood rushing in my ears. The only thing I felt for this guy was fear. It sat on me quietly, eroding the person I was born to be. What started as a contortion of my stomach became a feeling of being smothered by an invisible hand. My breathing became erratic, deep, then shallow. I fought it. I fought the feeling as my body writhed to be free or shut down entirely.

Each time this happens part of me get's stronger, learning how to cope, part of me weakens. I keep moving forward, but this time it seemed impossible. There was to much to it. He saw me... "Amelia?" Dimitri said with a concerned voice as I realized I had drawn into my thoughts again, hardly realizing that he was still here. "Did you hear anything I said?" I didn't. But this wasn't my problem right now. My whole body was starting to shake.

"Dimitri, he knows... Adam knows about me." I spilled, running my hands in my hair to put it away from my face. "Oh, god," I exhaled a deep breath, covering my face with my hands as I turned around towards the window.

"What do you mean he knows? How can he know?" I could clearly recognize the fear in his voice now. I turned around in one swift motion, facing him. Vampires never showed fear, especially Dimitri. I never saw him scared since I was here, so now he was doing a pretty good job trying to hide. But I knew fear better than I knew any other emotion. He couldn't hide it from me.

I bit my lip, trying to escape eye contact with him, but it was impossible. "Adam was the one that kidnapped me in the first place. He's the one that changed my last name into Amelia Grace as part of doing me favor, but..." I could clearly see the memories rush back in my head like painful flashbacks. "He made me pay for everything later," I explained softly, unable to keep my legs from trembling, so I leaned on his desk. "And I don't think his payback has stopped." I mumbled quietly to myself, feeling the tears fill my eyes. He helped his biggest enemy's daughter and then in return he did whatever he wanted with me.

I could hear Dimitri's breaths fastening up as he walked closer to me. "Why didn't you tell me this before?" His voice was deep, serious, almost making me shake my head slightly.

"I don't know. I wanted to, but," I stopped for a second, taking in a few deep breaths. "But with everything going on... I didn't want to upset yo-,"

"Amelia," He whispered my name like he just exhaled a piece of artwork, putting both his hands on my face and cutting me off. "You can always tell me anything. Anytime," I stared at his green eyes, making my boring ones fill with more tears. I wanted to tell him everything, but I've been trough so much in my life that I sometimes forgot it myself. I've had so many secrets that I happen to forget in some moments.

I looked down, not wanting him to see me cry. I didn't want him to think I was weak. To know I was weak. "Hey," His voice was soft, barely above a whisper as his thumbs caressed my cheek, making me look up at him. "Amelia, I promise you, I won't let him near you." He said like he was reading my fears. "I promise you, I will never let anything, or anyone hurt you." A tear slipped down my cheek as a slight gasp escaped me. I believed him. I knew he would protect me.

He wiped the tear with his thumb, and leaned in, leaving me surprised and breathless when he placed a sweet butterfly kiss on my lips. Opening my eyes, I saw the truth in his. I saw the reality, and even though I knew him for short amount of time, it felt like I knew him my whole life. Without even realizing it, I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, feeling his warm embrace. His big, strong arms seemed very protective when wrapped around my frail body. The world around me melted away as I squeezed him back, not wanting the moment to end.

~

I lied on Dimitri's bed, letting the silence fill my lungs. Hearing my own breaths, my own heartbeat, my own thoughts. After telling him everything, I felt relieved. Like a heavy stone was lifted from my chest. When I shared my story about Jenna wearing the necklace Adam gave me, Dimitri believed that it was too weird to be a coincidence. I promised him, I promised myself, that I'll never keep those kinds of secrets anymore. It literally started hurting me, mentally and physically. It's like they were taking away all my strength, will for living. And I trusted Dimitri, so I decided to tell him everything.

The only thing I missed telling him was about Christian. About what he told me in the hallway, about seeing him with Jenna the day before she disappeared nor about the 'pleasant' conversation I heard him have over the phone. The thoughts trundled through my brain like a through train, with no intention of stopping. As I watched the dimmed light that was blooming from the chandelier from above, I felt like the thoughts were pressing me just to think more and more.

Dimitri brought me to his room and told me not to leave it. To simply wait for him. And I listened. But after he heard everything I told him, I had the feeling that he was worried about me. That he was worried about something happening to me, which made me even more scared. I relied on him, and seeing him fearing about my life, made me nervous. I didn't have the time to ask him how he knew Adam, or why he seemed like he had a bad experience with him, but all I could notice was Dimitri's hate towards him. From the very moment I mentioned him. I hugged the pillow even tighter as I lied on top of the bed, staring at the ceiling.

I exhaled deeply, unable to take the pressure that the uncountable questions and thoughts were torturing my mind. It's like there was a war inside my head. I jerked myself up, putting the pillow back on it's place and standing up. Since Dimitri 'released' me from all the chores today and sent me to stay in his room, forbidding me to leave it, I cleaned most of the time, even though the whole room was already spotless. So now, I had nothing to do except wait. And he wasn't coming back in hours.

I crossed my arms, facing the window and watching how the sun was slowly setting and fading behind the clouds. This whole time, all I did was try to understand what happened. Who helped Jenna and Dylan? I heard Christian talking on the phone and everything seemed related, but Adam on the other hand was also at the top of my list. The necklace thing was connecting him even more with this case. I sighed. This shouldn't be my problem... Adam sold me and I had 7 different Masters after him. Now, Dimitri bought me and he was a Prince. I mean, no one would try to do anything to something a Prince owned. And that something happens to be me...

I ran my fingers trough my hair, feeling like I was slowly, painfully, killing myself with overthinking all day long. But it wasn't just the thoughts that were torturing me. My body suddenly felt weak, my mind slightly swoon as my heart thumped one fast rhythm against my chest. I inhaled deeply, unable to understand what was suddenly washing over me as I steadied myself holding the wall. The thoughts from my head were starting to banish, but my heart was just catching a quicker and quicker beat.

Waves of heat coursed through my blood, as I felt dots of cold sweat form on my forehead. I shivered violently, frowning at the feeling like the room started spinning slightly. My vision- blurry. The smell of disinfectant awakened memories long forgotten, echoes of those long ago yells, screams and punishments jarred my mind. A breath escaped me just before I unconsciously closed my eyes, seeing sudden pictures pop in front of me... Flashbacks.

I watched Adam push the other vampire by his shoulders, as he was harshly yanked against the wall behind him. The push was so strong, so hard, that pieces of the white wall grinned, falling on the floor around him. My breath caught in my throat as I covered my mouth to hide the scream that almost escaped me. The vampire that was sitting on the cold floor didn't seem unconscious at all. In fact, he seemed angry. He stood up as I wasn't able to follow his speed. In half of a second, a shadow flew towards Adam, but the picture suddenly 'froze' as a loud growl escaped the other vampire.

They were standing close to each other, as their bodies were almost touching. Adam's hand... holding something against the guy's stomach as they stood like that still. My breaths were shallow, my hands trembling as my knees started shaking and giving out on me. It's not possible... He had a dark wooden stick pushed trough the guy's stomach, as blood was covering Adam's hand. I felt like my feet suddenly stopped touching the wooded floor, even though I was practically frozen on my spot.

Tears started rolling down my face, making my vision blurry as I took a step backwards, unable to understand what I just saw happening. "Oh my god..." My voice was shaky, quiet, yet Adam heard me perfectly as he instantly glanced in my direction. I could see the anger in his eyes, the fury, but at the same time an arrogant smirk was formed on his lips. The cold air was dangled in my nostrils as a distinct smell started to take over. It smelled like blood... death. I wanted to turn around and run as fast as I can, but before I could even take in another breath, before I could blink, Adam pulled out the wooden stake from the vampire as he fell lifelessly on the floor.

Seconds... no less then seconds were needed for him to rush towards me, like a dark wind, dark shadow. Suddenly, he was in front of me, so close that he was basically swallowing my sighs of horror, as I couldn't find the strength to take my eyes off his. I was too scared to do anything. The smirk just grew bigger as he sensed the fear that was rushing trough my veins. "I thought I told you not to leave the room, sweetheart." His voice was firm, terrifying, yet he always sweet talked me.

I opened my mouth to say something, but the lump in my throat cut me off. "I-I... I'm sorry, I," I started, but before I could continue, I felt his one hand on my throat, his other one harshly pushing me backwards, until I roughly hit the cold wall behind. His hand never left my throat while in the other one he was still holding the bloody wooden stick. His hand moved upwards and upwards, until he lightly pinned the sharp edge of the stick down my throat, moving his hand on my chin and turning my head on the side so my neck was completely exposed to him.

My heart... It was no longer beating. I just wanted to die right there, not wanting to feel his punishments anymore. The sharp tip of the wooden stick was slowly trailed down my neck as his eyes were sharply taking mine. Suddenly, I felt burning pain from my neck as the sharp wooden stick was leaving a bloody trail down my neck, cutting my skin. The pain had an unpleasant warmth to it, eating at my stomach as I closed my eyes, unable to keep them open. I've often prized myself in ignoring pain and just rocking on regardless, but that just wasn't possible right now. It owned me, dominated every thought, controlled every action.

My legs felt weak while I had the feeling like I was going to collapse, but soon I felt his hand harshly gripping my face and squeezing my both cheeks with his fingers. "Look at me!" He growled loudly as the pain suddenly stopped. Not even a moan escaped me from the blinding pain as I didn't want to give him the pleasure. I blinked, barely able to open my eyes as I was met with his ocean blue eyes, giving me the feeling like they were dominating my whole self. My whole life.

He moved closer to my ear, but his hand never left my face, holding me still. My lips were pursed out as his fingers held my face still, assuring me that I was going to bruise after. "I don't have the time to play little punishments with you right now. So listen to me carefully," His lips moved against my ear as a gasp escaped me at the coldness of his voice. "The next time you disobey me... this stick, it will end up in your stomach." He slowly moved, once again meeting my eyes as a grin was formed on his face. "Understood?"

I nodded my head, feeling a tear fall down my cheek, giving him the pleasure to spread his grin wider. "Good." Adam let go of my face and slapped my cheek lightly, but hard enough to make the spot burn. He put my hair behind my ear, making me hold my breath as his eyes were staring deeply into mine, almost like he was reading my soul. Burning it. "Forget about what you saw. The rest of the memories will remain unsaid to anyone." And with that he let go of me, at the same time letting go of the bloody stick in his hands and disappeared along with the dead body.

I was left standing in the room, having no memories of what I saw. The only thing I knew was that I was crying. I still felt the pain on my neck, but when I brought my hand to it, there was no blood. Nothing. He healed me and left me with no memories. In front of me, on the floor, was laying the sharp bloody stick. I had no idea how it got there, as he once again managed to compel me. The only thing I registered was the logo carved at the dull part of the wooden stick in front of me. I knelt next to it, wondering what happened, why was it bloody, but all I could think was what the logo meant. Two symmetric lion heads..

Suddenly, I opened my eyes, being forced to swim once more in the tide waters of the past. It felt like the memory... the flashback, had absorbed all the energy from my body as my legs suddenly felt unstable. I leaned my back on the wall, slowly sinking on the floor. I've saw the two lion heads somewhere.... The cells. But the thoughts seemed to forcefully banish from my head again. I had no idea how long's it been, but the sun was now gone, darkness taking over the room. My breaths were shallow, my heart thumping loudly as I brought my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them. It felt like I re-lived the whole thing all over again. The fear, the pain, the confusion. He took my memories... Was the only thing that was crossing my mind right now.

He took my memories so I wouldn't know seeing him killing that vampire, but the real question was... how did I remember? Why now? I put my hands on both sides of my body trying to push myself up, but I felt something under my fingers. Paper. A piece of dirty white paper was right next to me on the floor, but I couldn't remember seeing it there before. I cleaned the whole room and I was positive that I left nothing behind. Taking the yellowish paper in my hand, I frowned as I realized how old it looked. Like an old letter. It was folded, torn on one part.

My hands started shaking as I unfolded the piece of paper, slowly, not wanting to tear the whole thing up. The young moonlight from the window was illuminating enough for me to see that there was something written on it. I frowned, trying to understand the artistic handwriting on it.

"Do you remember when we used to play hide and seek? I had so much fun playing with you every night.
I remember the nights you would lie under the blankets in the room, shaking in fear and anticipation, knowing that I was there, but you couldn't see me. I could see you very clearly though. Hear your every shaken breath, every heartbeat, smell every single burning fear sensation that my presence gave you. You were a young one, so I let you win every night, leaving you alone for a few hours so you can get some sleep. The whole fun was just playing with you. We haven't played in quite a while though, so I was thinking we should start again. But I feel like hide and seek is boring now, is it? And since you're older, whatever game we're playing, I won't have to let you win anymore...

Suddenly, I heard a laugh. A cruel, cold cackle that froze me in my spot and drained all hope, dreams and feelings from within me, replacing them with a feeling of despair, hopelessness and most of all, fear. Fear's claws felt like they cut through my body and wrapped around my brain. It choked the breath from my lungs and left my body dry heaving, desperately trying to rid me of all this. Black mist swirled at the edges of my mind, drawing me into the fear's open arms. Salty tears unconsciously spilled over onto my cheeks leaving a tight, dry feeling. I supported myself with the wall as I jerked myself up from the floor, searching the dark room with my eyes, but there was no one there.

My hands were uncontrollably trembling as I had no idea what the hell was going on? Was I dreaming? Or was it all real? I quickly turned the piece of paper on the other side, seeing that there was more. "This game is called truth or death. Steep cement stairs, cold air and metal bars, as the tall gray walls are leaving the cells sunless from all the thick layers. I'm fair enough to give you a hint, aren't I? You have ten minutes. Find me and tell me everything. I'll wait for you, but if you leave me waiting a minute longer, the second part of the game's title will come true. I promise. He still has no idea, but you know how fast I can end someone's life, right? I just gave you the chance to remember. Find me my sweet Amelia, and Dimitri lives... -Master Adam."

My mind went blank when I read his name. It kept repeating in my head. Adam... The fear was holding me frozen to my spot, like it was burring it's deep claws on my arms and holding me still. I had seen darkness before, the kind that makes your vision like an old fashioned photograph, everything a shade of grey. This wasn't like that. This was the darkness that robs you of your best sense and replaces it with a paralyzing fear. In this darkness I stood frozen, muscles cramped and unable to move. I only knew my eyes were still there because I could feel myself blink, still instinctively moisturizing the organs I have no current use for. I couldn't hear anything either. I guess that should've brought my heart rate down below the level of "rabbit in a snare" but it didn't.

By my genes I am a huntress, I have the front facing eyes and brain enough to hunt, but at this point, I felt like I was the one that was being hunted. My mind could no longer register my own movements, as I only felt my legs starting to move. I walked closer and closer to the wall, closer and closer to opening the 'gate' of the light. I had no idea how much time I had left, but I knew that this was real. If I didn't do as instructed, my next punishment would be Dimitri's death. Even though the fear was making my whole body practically numb, tightly pulling my bowels, I kept going, opening the bedroom door and adjusting to the sudden light from the hall. Not making it means not being there for Dimitri and that is something I would never willingly do. Abandoning isn't my thing. Especially someone I love...

***
So, things are getting more complicated... In the next Chapter things might get confusing, but soon everything will clear out. I promise.

Thanks for reading, kittens! Please comment your thoughts about this Chapter and make me smile by clicking that vote button at the bottom of your screen :D Kisses, :*